WordStream conducted extensive research into the seasonality and trends of keyword searches on Google corresponding to chicken wings and hundreds of other popular Super Bowl snacks including:

Guacamole

Chili

Nachos

Pulled Pork

Pigs in a blanket

Doritos

Seven Layer Dip

The astonishing results revealed a near perfect correlation between the demand for chicken wings and buffalo chicken dip with the NFL season. The results are illustrated in graphical form, here:

Note that for the last 9 consecutive years, search volume for Buffalo Chicken Dip followed a similar pattern, increasing significantly in September (which corresponds to the start of the NFL season), then peaking in December (corresponding to end of the regular season) and peaking again in February, corresponding to the Super Bowl.

“The entire chicken wing economy appears to be based on the NFL season,” said Larry Kim, Founder and CTO of WordStream, Inc. “No other snack or beverage that we examined exhibited such a strong correlation to the Super Bowl and NFL season, and I can confidently forecast that this trend will repeat itself this year.”

National Chicken Council Forecasts 1.23 Billion Chicken Wings To be Gobbled Up This Weekend

According to the National Chicken Council, “Super Bowl weekend is unquestionably the biggest time of the year for wings.” Americans will eat well over a billion of them this weekend while watching the big game. About four out of five Americans eat chicken wings and more than half of those sports fans (57%) slather their wings in ranch dressing, with the rest opting for BBQ (43%), hot sauce (38%), or blue cheese (35%). (“Ranch dressing” keyword volume also peaks in January, with another peak in July – is that when the new ranch flavors come out?)

The search volume for “chicken wings” increases by approximately 75% every February, relative to the 3 months prior, though the snack has more steady-state demand relative to buffalo chicken dip.

Google estimates that Americans search for “Chicken Wings” approximately 550,000 times per month on average.

Other Chicken Snacks Seen as Super Bowl Favorites

Other, similar keyword searches corresponding to chicken snacks were all seen to exhibit similar trends, including the following keyword searches:

Buffalo dip recipe

Buffalo chicken recipe

Chicken dip recipe

Chicken dip recipes

Chicken wing dip

Buffalo wing dip

We can therefore conclude that in the event of an NFL lockout, the chicken economy (and buffalo sauce) would be in trouble!

What’s Your Industry’s Chicken Dip?

Every industry has its own version of “buffalo chicken dip,” a product or concept with big seasonal peaks. By carefully anticipating those keyword trends and having your search marketing campaigns at the ready, you could hatch the same kind of profits as chicken farms do on Superbowl Sunday.